Silas 11 months and Niyah 2yrs

February 2012

This month has been full of excitement already... Here are some hi-lights:

Feb 1st- My husband came home with a handful of surprises to celebrate our 'dating/engagement' anniversary. After our kids were tucked into bed we were sitting on the couch talking over our day when he sweetly asked what color I think of when I picture the month of February. "hmmm, white because of the snow outside our window or red for valentines day" was my reply. He then said, "I think of blue." "Blue?" I said. He pulled out a card with a blue envelope and said, "yes blue, because I would be oh so blue without you in my life, Happy February 1st." (laugh and sigh). So cute. The card was sweet enough, but it didn't end there. He then proceeded to pull out 3 more gifts one at a time which continued the 'blue-theme'. A frozen yogart gift card to "Blue Spoon", a boutique gift card to "JT blu" in Leavenworth, and blue wrapped silk milk chocolate candy bar. Awesome. It was so fun! And so thoughtful!

Feb 10-11th- We had our Gospel Community leaders retreat. It was a special time of team building, vision casting, and praising God for His works of grace in our lives and those in our Gospel Community Groups at GCC. I am so thankful for the church family I have and the Gospel Community group we are living life with. I've never had the need for the gospel be so pressing, or the thankfulness of the gospel be so tangible. Daily living as a sent people on mission with the gospel is the toughest way to live and yet the most rewarding way to live. All because the One who sent us, is the One who went before us, and is the One who goes with us.

Feb 12th- My mom had her Birthday and spent the day in our neck of the woods! Nani and Popii came to our house for dinner to celebrate. And yes, Niyah made some 'pupcakes' as she sweetie requests for any birthday party! It was a fun time to visit and have them visit the kids. The dinner from garlini's was a delicious favorite for mom (and us all) to enjoy too!
Today also marked the 9th month birthday for our lil' man Silas! He is such a sweet boy. He has a very tender heart and is learning the ropes of life vertically as he loves to spend most of the day standing alongside our couches and cruising from one to the other. He loves his sister, and I swear he is saying her name "Na Na Na"(for Ni Ni) the last couple days, or he could be meaning Ma-ma." Either way, it's adorable. He can raise his hands into the sky when we say "so big!", and he can clap his hands, and wave. We are working on pleases and thank you's via sign-language. So we'll see how that goes. :) He is a delight and a continual blessing to our family.

My precious Nephew and the Hope of God's perfect Plan

Please read, pray, and be encouraged by the all sufficient hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Link: Baby Mac #4 story

Weekend Fun in the Methow with Stennes'

Niyah was scared for daddy as he 'snowboarded' behind 4-wheeler!

After 3 weeks straight of no day off for my dear husband, we were blessed to escape for 2 nights to the Stennes homestead in the Methow. We had a great time relaxing with friends and enjoying a beautiful stay in Keith and Deb's home overlooking the river. We read, ate, slept, hot-tubed, watched movie, visited friends, played with kids, 4-wheeled in snow, sled, and relaxed! The kids loved the snow and playing with their little friends. Grandma Deb has a play kitchen in her house that was a definite favorite for Niyah to spend the afternoon in 'mommy-imagination'. Very cute. We are thankful for the time to get away and relax as a family by the graciousness of good friends to invite us to come!

Christmas 2011

Christmas morning!

A special visit from great grandma Kay

Her favorite Christmas present this year,"Chapee"=chapstick

A fun lunch with great aunts, cousin, and auntie kay

Taking good care of her brother Si Si

Here are a few pictures from our last 3 weeks of Christmas celebrations with family. We had a full three weeks which included visits from great grandma Kay, auntie's, cousins, grandparents, ggma and ggpa, nana and papa and many more. We enjoyed a Christmas morning here at home with our family of four before leaving for Edmonds to ggma and ggpa's home. More pictures of our travels will have to come later since I don't have our family camera at home with me right now. So these are just some to give a quick update. I look forward to bringing in 2012 with these two munchkins of mine! :)

Crafts cont...

One more craft project filled our home in preparation for Christmas.... Anytime Elmers is involved it's a fun time. :) I am glad to have a girl who likes to do crafts with me!

Christmas CountDown

Silas started eating solids this month. He doesn't get the "you can use your hands" concept yet :)
Squash, avocado, banana, rice cereal, apple sauce are his favorites thus far

Silas can pull himself up into a stand now! 7 months

Gingerbread Men Baking Day! I have such a great helper in the kitchen!

My side-kick Si

so delicious!

The tree-hunting clan 2011: McPherson's, Weber's, and Rose's

The Rose Family tree

Our Tree for 2011! Big thanks to Becky for finding it!

This month has been full of fun traditions and holiday cheer. Here are some pictures of our 'out-n-about' adventures as we countdown the days to Christmas!

Christmas Craft Day

Today was a Christmas craft day for Niyah and I. Our first craft were these beautiful PINK SPARKLE ornaments. Who needs the traditional "red and green" when pink's an option is Niyah's motto. These will be her first 'craft-gifts' to family this year and she was very proud. The sparkles made an exciting mess and will be with us for some time I think. It was worth it though. Niyah even managed to get some sparkle 'bling' on her cheek. Just about in her eye, but thankful we steered clear any optical damage. Merry Christmas to all. And some of you fortunate folks will get to enjoy one of these handmade ornaments made specially for you by the 2 yr old Niyah Joy. :)

Some more pics of our crafts in the days to come! Stay tuned. I'm sure you're very interested. :)

Daddy Date- The thrill of her first skate

Taking some time to 'think' about it

Getting closer to the excitement on the ice

"oh yea, I can do this jig!"

While I was in Seattle having a girls weekend Niyah got to go on a daddy-date to the ice skating rink. She was looking forward to this outing all week! She got out on the ice after some moments of watching and thinking about it~ But once those feet hit the ice she LOVED it. 45 minutes of skating was just the start of the FUN. She is ready to go again to show me how she can "do it all by self mommy!" Maybe she'll take after her momma and grandma Kay and be an 'ice-skater' at heart. Her dance moves at home often include an outstretched leg followed by an exclamation, "look mom, I am skating!"